11 May 2008

Koyaanisqatsi


I'm delighted to be able to offer TYWKIWDBI visitors the video of Koyaanisqatsi. I never expected to find the entire (85 minute!) movie on internet video - but here it is, courtesy of Google video
[as of 2017 the link is dead.  ?resurrected elsewhere]

It's a bit difficult to explain Koyaanisqatsi to the uninitiated. It is a movie released in theaters in 1982, but it has no dialogue, and no plot. It is basically a visual and auditory experience, the former comprised on ultra-slow-motion and speeded-up photography, and the latter a score by Phillip Glass that you may love or hate.

Re the content, see the Wikipedia entry.

For commentary, try this Metafilter discussion.

My own recommendations: I can't predict whether you will be intrigued by this creation, as I was, or totally turned off. Here's the way to find out. Click the video to start it, turn the sound off, and do other things for a while (open another window for surfing, reintroduce yourself to your family, call your mom today), then come back to the movie and explore it by moving the slider to sample from different parts of it. If you do like it, I would suggest trying to obtain a DVD/VHS version from the library to see it in larger format than what your computer screen will (presumably) offer. But I don't recommend the other two movies in the "qatsi" trilogy.

from Wiki: Three Hopi prophecies are sung by a choral ensemble over the film's final few minutes and are translated just prior to the end credits:
  • "If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
  • "Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
  • "A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."
In 2000, Koyaanisqatsi was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

2 comments:

  1. Reminds me a bit of what they did to some Mussorgsky pieces back in my college days....

    Modern videoed art inspired by a series that was inspired by an art show....

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  2. Vimeo still has a full version of Koyaanisqatsi online, and if you don't mind an annoying pop-under each time you hit the play/pause button, you can watch Powaqqatsi here. Couldn't find Naqoyqatsi, but that's probably for the best. The music is not too bad, but the imagery looks like the trainee had a go at Windows Movie Maker.

    ReplyDelete

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